“I looked at the world with loving eyes”

READING

on April 26, 2024 

at 19.00

Entrance fee 5,00 euros | reduced 3,00 euros

The diaries of Käthe Kollwitz are also available in our museum shop – on site and online.

Jan Kollwitz, great-grandson of Käthe Kollwitz, as a guest at the Kollwitz Museum

The Kollwitz Museum invites you to a special reading on April 26 at 7 pm. On the occasion of the 79th anniversary of Käthe Kollwitz’ death, Jan Kollwitz, ceramic artist and great-grandson of Käthe Kollwitz, will read from the letters and diaries of his great-grandmother.

The world-famous artist died on April 22 at the age of 77, shortly before the end of the Second World War, in Moritzburg near Dresden. She was a wide-awake and committed witness of her time. Her diaries cover 35 years of her impressive life and not only provide intimate insights into her thoughts and emotions, but also shed light on the spirit of the times. Historical events, personal experiences, strokes of fate, life crises – all of this can be experienced in a special way in the records of this extraordinary artist.

When Jan Kollwitz turned to the art of ceramics at the age of 23, he could already look back on a remarkable career as an actor. In addition to stage engagements, he also appeared in front of the camera in Peter Beauvai’s film Six Weeks in the Life of the G Brothers (1976). After a three-year apprenticeship with ceramic artist Horst Kerstan in Kandern, Jan Kollwitz worked for two years as a personal student of Yutaka Nakamura in Echizen, Japan. There he learned the traditional firing technique of the Anagama kilns and the traditional vessel production of Echizen ceramics. In 1988, Jan Kollwitz moved into a studio in the Holstein monastery village of Cismar. Since then, the artist has been firing his ceramics there using the Japanese wood-firing technique.

Jan Kollwitz’ vessels have been on display in numerous exhibitions since 1990. Works by the artist can be found in museums such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Grassi Museum in Leipzig, the art collection of the Veste Coburg and, of course, the Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Berlin.